Catching some rare air in Tahoe / A look at some summertime ways to enjoy the views

Paul McHugh, Chronicle Outdoors Writer

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, July 15, 2004

To want big air is human. To score it at Lake Tahoe is divine.

In skiing season, it's easy to use lifts to reach overlooks for vistas of North America's largest alpine lake. But other outdoor elevators, available in summer, can equal or exceed those winter options.

Parasail: A half-dozen Tahoe companies launch and retrieve riders from the decks of speedboats. Sky-diving skills are not required to fly these colorful nylon bells into the sky. All you need is enthusiasm. Professional boat crews take care of the rest.

Last week, four women from one family leaped aboard a boat from Action Watersports, the lake's largest parasail ride supplier. With skipper Brady Gottman, 29, at her helm, the "Chute 'Em Now" scooted out of Timber Cove Marina and sped into open water.

Deeksha Rao, 19, and Divya Rao, 26, had flown the previous day of their debut visit to Tahoe, pronouncing it a wonderful route to marvelous views. Now, it was an older generation's turn. Their mother, Nimi Rao, 52, and Vats Rao, 59 -- an aunt visiting from India -- were outfitted in life vests and hip harnesses.

"I have never done anything like this before. Perhaps you can tell from my nervous laughter," Nimi Rao said. "But I am adventurous. So I will do it."

AIRTAHOE_096_LI.JPG Sisters Nimi Rao from Ohio and Vats Rao (cq) from India take off from South Lake Tahoe's Action Water Sports that offers Parachute sailing from Timber Lake Cove Marina. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle less

AIRTAHOE_096_LI.JPG Sisters Nimi Rao from Ohio and Vats Rao (cq) from India take off from South Lake Tahoe's Action Water Sports that offers Parachute sailing from Timber Lake Cove Marina. By Lance Iversen/San ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen

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Because their weight, combined, was below 340 pounds, the women could be hooked simultaneously to a ride bar. As a parasail unfurled its rainbows behind the boat, the smiles on this pair seemed a bit tight. But as a winch let a tether unwind and they wafted into the sky, they broke into broad grins and giggles.

Once aloft, sitting comfortably on a broad nylon strap that forms part of the harness, parasail riders smoothly ascend hundreds of feet. Most lake outfitters offer a choice of altitudes. Since achieving height affects a ride's overall time, that also adjusts its price ($45 and up). But the added dollars to rise past a basic 600 foot-high flight and waft up to 1,200 feet seem well worth it.

The boat diminishes to a needle, and your tether becomes a thread. A whisper of wind replaces engine noise. You drift in air like a dandelion seed. The blue canopy of the sky arches above, the cobalt sheet of Tahoe -- 193 square miles of it -- sprawls below your feet. Dividing them is a rough ring of 8,000-10,000 foot-high peaks, landmarks like Rubicon Peak, Mount Tallac and Monument Peak, that can be appreciated from a very fresh perspective.

Most interesting is a view straight into lake depths. The water shifts from a turquoise shoreline to an indigo, fathomless core, scalloped by waves. It's a struggle up here now, for Tahoe to stay blue and clear. Lake clarity has plunged by 25 percent since records began to be kept, 36 years ago (Information: www.keeptahoeblue.com).

The older Rao sisters descended softly to the lake surface as Gottman decreased speed. He let them dip their bare toes, then sped up to raise them higher before deftly winching them aboard.

"I found I was very, very comfortable up there," Nimi Rao said. "And the views -- magnificent!"

Soaring: There are castles in the sky. But since they're invisible, they're hard to find. The proper tool for a search is a glider. You can find one at Soar Truckee, located in the sage scrub southeast of Truckee Tahoe Airport.

"Let's tighten those," pilot Jan Driessen said as he tugged on the buckles of my flight harness. "Might be choppy up there."

Then we closed the canopy of the Schweitzer 2-33 glider. A tow plane roared down the runway. We followed like a puppy on a leash. Airborne even before the plane, we were tugged up to 8,000 feet, only 2,100 feet above the sage. A knob was pulled, the cable dropped, the glider flexed her wings. Suddenly, we were free.

Driessen, 68, once flew jets for the Dutch air force. Now he gets kicks without afterburners. Above an outcrop dubbed the Hot Rocks, Driessen found our first thermal. He banked steeply into the updraft. It was like running up a spiral staircase in a castle turret.

Eight minutes later, we cruised at an altitude of 12,500 feet. It was like strolling on an air castle's parapet, just below cumulus cloud flags. We could look down on the area's tallest peak (Mount Rose, at 10,778 feet).

Driessen, who had been humming into the intercom during the ascent, broke into song. "Oh, beautiful for spacious skies..."

Far below, corporate jets glittered as they flew in to land denizens of Lahontan -- Truckee's toniest subdivision. Across the street from it, two tiny buildings and 30 glider trailers of Soar Truckee faded into dots on the landscape. Pure love of flying has flourished here since before World War II. Cheap glider rides are offered by this nonprofit firm just to subsidize its continued existence.

"Gliding is so much fun, so quiet, so challenging," Driessen says.

The high, thin whistle of wind was our sole accompaniment as he studied the few instruments, felt the lurch of wings in varying air currents. From this scant data, he assembled his flight strategy.

Misty Lake Tahoe, the high secret of Marlette Lake, wilderness forests and sculpted summits drifted across the canopy.

Long before I was ready, Driessen put our nose down to make airspeed against the wind. We slid down an invisible ramp above the fire lookout on Martis Peak, then banked steeply into a precise touchdown on the tarmac. I took a breath, then popped the canopy to surrender my wings.

Soar Truckee: Daily rides, 9:30 a.m. -- 5 p.m. (conditions vary), from first week in May to last week in September. Prices: from $79 for one passenger to $239 for a sunset flight for two. (530) 587-6702, or www.soartruckee.com.

Ballooning: Since 2003, when Harley and Tammy Hoy combined assets of Balloons Over Tahoe and Lake Tahoe Balloons, just one firm has offered rides into dawn skies over the lake on elevators without walls, hoisted on hot air. Custom gondolas can haul up to 12 passengers 3,000-4,000 feet above the lake. Flights launch from a unique aircraft carrier -- the 120-foot Tahoe Flyer. South Shore shuttle pick-ups are 5-5:30 a.m., daily, May 1-Oct. 31. Cost: $225/person, includes continental breakfast. (800) 872-9294, or www.laketahoeballoons.com.

Gondola lift: One winter option holds over for summer, the great funicular lift ride at Heavenly. It's also an inexpensive way to rise to the skies. Zipping up 2.4 miles to sites above 9,000 feet in 12 minutes, the gondola brings you to The Deck view site and the Adventure Center. Activities include 7.6 miles of hiking trails, food services and a climbing wall ($5 for two climbs). Gondola base is a half-mile west of Stateline on Tahoe's South Shore. Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily, until Sept. 6; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily, until Sept. 7-Oct. 3; 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Thurs.-Sun., Oct. 4-24. Cost: $22 (adult), $20 (teens and seniors); $14 (kids age 5-12). (775) 586-7000, www.skiheavenly.com.